Politics of the Roaring Twenties
Post-WWI Politics and Social
Issues
• 1920 election
• Warren G. Harding a
“Return to Normalcy”
Post-WWI Politics and Social
Issues
• Politics of the 20’s
Characterized by:
1. a conservative
reaction to the
international and
domestic activism of
the Progressive Era
2. Renewed isolationism
– pull away from
involvement in word
affairs
Post-WWI Politics and Social
Issues
3. Resurgence of Nativism
Post-WWI Politics and Social
Issues
• Growth of the culture
of consumerism
• Americans began to
work fewer hours,
earn higher salaries,
invest in the stock
market, and buy
everything from
washing machines to
Model T Fords
Post-WWI Politics and Social
Issues
• Paradoxes
(inconsistencies) of
the era
• Prohibition, flappers,
fundamentalists, the
Harlem Renaissance
and the rebirth of the
Ku Klux Klan
Revolution Abroad and Reaction
at Home
• The Russian
Revolution
• Czar Nicholas II, the
Russian ruler steps
down on March 15,
1917
• November, radicals
seized the government
and established the
world’s first
Communist state.
Vladimir Illyich Lenin
• Vladimir Lenin
• Established
communism in Russia
• Based on the teachings
of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels
Communism
• In a communist
society, labor is the
shared equally as well,
and the benefits of
labor are distributed
according to need
Red Scare in the US
• About 70,000 radicals
joined called the “Reds”
joined US Communist
Party
• Communist talked about
abolishing private
property
• Substituting government
ownership of factories
• Caused fear in many
people
A. Mitchell Palmer
• Attorney General
decided to take action
to combat “Red Scare”
• Appointed J. Edgar
Hoover in charge of
the antiradical division
of the Justice
Department
Palmer Raids
• Sent agents to hunt
down Communists,
Socialists and
anarchists- oppose any
form of govt.
• The agents often
disregarded the rights
of the people they
arrested.
Palmer Raids
• Palmer never found
evidence of a
conspiracy to
overthrow the
government, and the
fear passed
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Among the more
celebrated victims of
the Red Scare were
two Italian aliens,
admitted anarchists
named
• Nicola Sacco and
Bartolome Vanzetti
• Charged with robbery
and murder in 1920.
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Robbed and killed a
factory paymaster and
his guard
• Arrested 3 weeks later,
admitted they were
anarchists, but not
crime.
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
• The men were arrested
in 1920 and executed
seven years later, less
for the crime they
apparently did not
commit than for their
nationality and radical
beliefs
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
• Vanzetti claimed that
the trial had not been
about murder, but
rather his ideology and
ethnic heritage
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
• 1961 ballistics tests
showed Sacco’s gun
had killed the guard
• August 23, 1977,
Mass. Gov. Michael
Dukakis declared
unfair trial
Klan Rises Again
• In 1915, Colonel William
Joseph Simmons revived
the organization
• 1915 Whites climbed up
Stone Mountain,
Georgia, and burned a
huge cross and
announced the rebirth of
the Klan
Klan Rises Again
• Whereas the old Klan
was a Southern
instrument of racial
oppression, the new
Klan was strong in
many parts of the
country (especially the
Midwest)
Klan Rises Again
• This new KKK
promoted "100%
Americanism":
– Protestantism
– Charity
– Motherhood
– Morality
– Temperance
– Education
Klan Rises Again
•
So what's not 100%
American?
• Their main targets
include:
1. Roman Catholics
2. Jews
3. African-Americans
Klan Rises Again
• According to Hiram
Wesley Evans, an
"Imperial Wizard" of
the KKK:
• "Every instinct, every
interest, every dictate of
conscience and public
spirit insists that white
supremacy forever shall
be maintained."
Klan Tactics
• Burning crosses
outside people’s
homes
• Whippings and
lynching to terrorize
blacks and immigrants
• Supported all efforts
to limit immigration
Politics of the Roaring Twenties
Daily Quiz
Who are “Reds?”
Communists
Whose aim was to preserve the
United States for white nativeborn Protestants?
KKK
The Palmer raids were organized
to root out groups whose
activities
• posed a clear danger to the country.
Who were convicted because
they were anarchists not for their
crime?
Sacco and
Vanzetti
Who called for workers of the
world to overthrow their
governments?
Lenin
Why did many Americans fear
Vladimir I. Lenin and his
followers, the Bolsheviks?
They promoted a system
that was hostile to
American values.
Name the first director of the
FBI.
J. Edgar Hoover